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After big changes, Andy Murray aims for Wimbledon repeat

Andy Murray, 27, returns to Wimbledon a changed man -- in more ways than he anticipated 12 months ago. His body is different, following back surgery last fall. His team is different, following the split with coach Ivan Lendl.

"I expect to be very nervous," the plainspoken Scot told USA TODAY Sports about being the first to step onto Center Court, an honor reserved for the defending champion, when the tournament begins anew Monday.

But that fear is mixed with anticipation, as the first British man defending a Wimbledon title since Fred Perry won in 1936.

"I'm looking forward to it as something you've sort of heard players talk about in the past, that it's pretty special to be the first one to play out there," he said. "The grass is absolutely perfect. I've never played when it's been brand new before."

Grass won't be the only novelty.

Murray, 27, returns to Wimbledon a changed man -- in more ways than he anticipated 12 months ago.

His body is different, following back surgery last fall. His team is different, following the split with coach Ivan Lendl.

If that weren't enough, Murray defied established coaching protocol by hiring former French No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo for, initially, the grass-court season. Few top male players enlist female advisers.

Murray has never been afraid to flout convention, starting when he left the U.K. to train in Spain as a teenager.

More important, he thrives on grass, where his world-class movement, natural guile and ability to put balls back in play on the return-of-serve pay huge dividends.

USA TODAY Sports' Reid Cherner discusses who viewers should keep an eye on at Wimbledon.

Since the start of 2012, Murray leads all players with a 25-3 record on grass.

His offense also stands out: Murray wins 8% more service games on grass than his career average (89% vs. 81%), the biggest difference of any player in the top 10.

He has not won a tournament since Wimbledon, but he proved he can win big matches and go five sets -- doing that to beat Gael Monfils in the French Open quarterfinals this month, equaling his best showing at Roland Garros.

Brad Gilbert, who worked closely with Murray when he was employed by the British Lawn Tennis Association in 2006-07, expects the fifth-ranked Scot to threaten for the Wimbledon title again, especially if the draw breaks his way.

"Obviously he's made some big changes," says Gilbert. "But he's incredibly comfortable on grass and is in the prime of his career. He might have setbacks, but he'll survive it all."

Struggle after success

What remains unchanged is the crushing expectations from a British public that craves more success after decades of angst and deprivation.

After a post-Wimbledon holiday in the Bahamas with his girlfriend, Kim Sears, Murray faced the inevitable conundrum. What now?

"He went a little bit flat for a while, which was understandable," says his mother, Judy.

Murray admits he lost his drive for a few months following the historic win. Who could blame him?

In the span of 12 months, he had won an Olympic gold medal on home soil and ended the decades of chronic British tennis pessimism that only Chicago Cubs fans could begin to understand.

That line of thinking – he could never repeat that singular success – was reinforced by the media and his own inner circle. It became a psychological trap.

"Even my coach and team were sort of like, 'We understand if you're struggling with your motivation'" Murray says. "In the press it was like, 'Do you feel like that's the pinnacle?' I almost kind of accepted it."

And the results showed: Murray didn't advance past the quarterfinals of his next three events, including a meek three-set loss as defending champion to Stan Wawrinka in the U.S. Open quarterfinals.

But he was also ailing from a chronic lower back problem that flared up badly in May and caused him to miss the 2013 French Open.

It hadn't prevented his run at Wimbledon, but he finally decided to go under the knife in September following Davis Cup, then spent the rest of the year recovering and rehabbing.

During that period, the hunger came roaring back.

"It wasn't until I had my back surgery that I was like, I really miss this," said Murray. "Definitely for a couple of months motivation was an issue. But not now."

'Cut from a different cloth'

Back on tour by January, Murray reached the Australian Open quarterfinals. But he was blindsided two months later when Lendl pulled the plug on their relationship in March.

Lendl, who had helped Murray get over the Grand Slam hump after going 0-4 in finals, no longer was willing to commit to the travel required.

While no one knows the full dimensions of the breakup – Lendl has not given any interviews -- it took a toll. Murray at the time said he felt "gutted" by the break.

He soldiered on for the next few weeks without a main coach. His back, not perfect, has improved.

His first outing with Mauresmo on grass was patchy.

He won his opening match at the Queen's Club in London but saw his 19-match unbeaten string on grass snapped last week in the next round by veteran Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 7-6 (12-10), 6-2.

Mauresmo will have to blend in with the established, all-male members of Murray's entourage, including fitness trainers Matt Little and Jez Green, physiotherapist Mark Bender and hitting partner Daniel Vallverdu.

ESPN tennis analyst Pam Shriver said that shouldn't be a problem for the easy-going, well-respected Frenchwoman.

That respect hasn't come easily to Murray. The British public warmed slowly to him.

Early in his career, he made no secret about where his patriotic allegiances lay, although he has downplayed them in recent years.

No blueblood, Murray comes from a middle-class family (his father is a retail manager) and spent some of his formative years overseas, far from Britain's time-honored tennis circles.

Everything from his demonstrative body language to his upbringing stood in contrast to the last great British hope, the mild-mannered Tim Henman.

"Tim Henman fit what middle England wanted to watch on Center Court: a clean-cut man from the home counties of the U.K.," says the BBC's chief tennis correspondent, Russell Fuller.

"Andy Murray is cut from a different cloth. That's why I think, to much of the traditional tennis supporting audience, (his popularity) was a bit of a slow burn."

Crowd favorite

That all began to shift in 2012.

Murray lost his first Wimbledon final to seven-time champion Roger Federer and broke down during the trophy presentation, showing the public how deeply he wanted to win. Then he stormed back the next month and captured the Olympic gold medal on that same Center Court, this time beating Federer.

It wasn't until he won Wimbledon that Murray earned the BBC's prestigious Sports Personality of the Year award.

"I don't think people in the U.K. had embraced him as well as they should have done before that Olympic gold medal, for a man of his exceptional talents," says Fuller. "He's always been box office – not only with the success he's had on the court but the style of tennis that he plays. That has changed dramatically over the course of the last two years."

Murray says the backing helps.

"The support during Wimbledon last year in the final was unbelievable," he says. "It makes a huge difference."

But encores are tricky, which Murray admits.

"When I go back on the first Monday it's going to be a new experience for me," he says. "But I feel like I've experienced enough to be able to deal with it."